Ballots for the county committee election were mailed out Nov. 5 for Local Administrative Area 3. Voters have until Dec. 3 to return their ballots to the county office.

Farm Service Agency county committee members make important decisions on how federal farm programs fit the needs of Pennsylvania producers. FSA county committees make decisions on commodity price support loans and payments; establishment of allotments and yields; conservation programs; incentive, indemnity, and disaster payments for some commodities; and other farm disaster assistance.

The FSA county committee system, established in the 1930s, gives local farmers and ranchers a much-needed say in how farm programs are administered at the grass-roots level. It is vital that all eligible farmers and ranchers vote in this year’s election to ensure that these committees represent the interests of all producers in a community.

If you are on the FSA mailing list, the chances are you are an eligible voter. Anyone who meets the requirements in 1 or 2, plus 3, below is eligible to vote:

1. Be of legal voting age and have an interest in a farm or ranch as either of the following:

n an owner, operator, tenant or sharecropper, or

n a partner in a general partnership or member of a joint venture that has an interest in a farm as an owner, operator, tenant or sharecropper; or

2. Not of legal voting age, but supervises and conducts the farming operations on an entire farm; and

3. Eligible to participate in any FSA program that is provided by law, regardless of the status of funding.

Candidates on the ballot in Local Administrative Area 3 which covers the following townships in Butler County — Cranberry, Jackson, Adams, Forward, Middlesex, Penn, Clinton, Jefferson, Buffalo, and Winfield are:

Jeffrey Kennedy: Our farm is located in Penn Township, Butler County. My family and I milk 60 head of Brown Swiss and Holstein cows along with raising our own replacements. I no-till farm 110 acres of corn, 16 acres of soybeans and 90 acres of hay in Penn and Middlesex townships. Janice and I have two sons who help out when available. I am a member of the National Brown Swiss Association and am on the board of directors for the Western PA Tractor & Truck Pullers Association. I currently serve as the county committee vice chairperson and am the adviser of Knoch FFA.

Lorraine Thiele: Our farm is located in Jefferson Township, Butler County. My husband Edward and I, along with our two boys, live on a dairy farm. We milk 40 Holstein cows and also farm 250 acres. We grow corn, soybeans, oats, and alfalfa. Our farm has been in the family since 1868, and our boys are the sixth generation to work the land.

Luke Fritz is executive director of the Butler County Farm Service Agency.